Eduardo Nunez‘s career with the Boston Red Sox has been a bit of a rollercoaster. It began on July 26, 2017, when the San Francisco Giants traded him to Boston, and it ended today, with Nunez being designated for assignment.
2019 has been incredibly disappointing for Nunez. He has only played sixty games and hit .228 with two home runs. With Brock Holt and Dustin Pedroia both missing significant time with injuries, Nunez should have been the answer at second base. But poor hitting, abysmal fielding, injuries of his own, and the emergence of Michael Chavis‘ bat contributed to the end of Nunez’s time in Boston. Chavis will become the team’s primary second baseman when Mitch Moreland and/or Steve Pearce return from the Injured List.
There were a lot of downs during Nunez’s time in Boston, but there were plenty of ups and they always came at the right time. When he first arrived in Boston, Nunez crushed opposing pitchers for a .321 with twelve doubles and eight homers in thirty-eight games. Nunez also became a World Series hero in the 2018 championship run with a key homer in the seventh inning of Game 1 against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Nunez crushed a pinch-hit, three-run bomb to put the Sox ahead by four.
Nunez also came off the bench in the eighteen inning marathon of Game 3. Nunez collided with Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal, slid headfirst into first base to beat out a throw, and fell into the stands trying to make a catch while Boston had no players left on their bench. He put his body on the line and looked ridiculous doing it, but he stayed in the game to give his team the best chance to win (even though they didn’t).
Nunez endeared himself to Boston fans with his clutch hits and fun antics amid spells of disaster at second base and infuriating cold streaks. Though the Sox are moving on from him, he will be remembered in Boston for years to come. The 2018 World Series championship might not have happened without him.
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